Samsung is almost ready to unleash the Galaxy S25 Ultra and that means all eyes are on the Korean giant at the moment. As we’ve all had our eyes on the Galaxy S24 Ultra all year – it’s the fan champion of our database and was the most popular entry for the past year.
But do you know which phone has beaten it for the past month? You guessed it, the Galaxy S25 Ultra. So, let’s discuss what to expect from Samsung’s next flagship.
It is arriving at the old price on January 22, question mark
Smart Money says Samsung will announce the Galaxy S25 family (S25, S25+, S25 Ultra) on January 22 (23 in Korea) and release it in a wider selection of markets on February 6 (7 in Korea).
Reports suggest that Samsung will start taking pre-orders on January 24 (Friday) and start shipping units earlier than expected.
Samsung will have some pre-order bonuses ready for the specific launch but even better, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will be priced the same as the S24 Ultra. That means the base model 256GB unit will be €1,449 – expect Samsung to give you double the storage for free by making you a 512GB model.
New rounded design, thinnest bezel ever
All the renders and leaked photos in the wild of Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra reinforce that it will have a new design.
The phone will have more rounded corners on all sides, making it more comfortable to hold.
Leaked render of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
The phone’s screen is set to remain a 6.8-inch unit but Samsung has slimmed down the bezel around it, which could lead to a slight reduction in the phone’s footprint compared to its predecessor. However, it will still be a huge phone, make no mistake, but rumor has it, its bezels will be slimmer than the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Xiaomi 15.
The glass of choice will be next-gen Gorilla Glass Armor, which is less reflective and more durable than its groundbreaking predecessor.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
The S25 Ultra will come in no less than seven colors – Titanium SilverBlue, Titanium WhiteSilver, Titanium Grey, Titanium JadeGreen, Titanium PinkGold and two black/grey models in Titanium Black and Titanium JetBlack. The finish reminds us of the jet black iPhone 7, with a glossy piano black finish.
Some of these colors will probably be exclusive to Samsung’s online store – possibly JetBlack, JadeGreen and PinkGold.
According to this leaked blue, all Galaxy S25 Ultra colors are also likely to have lower saturation.
S25 Ultra
blue pic.twitter.com/aaPWBgdtIF— Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) December 26, 2024
New 50 MP ultrawide, same main and zoom cameras
Samsung has been upgrading the cameras of its Ultra phones one at a time – the S20 Ultra brought a 108 MP main camera, the S21 Ultra brought autofocus to Ultrawide and a 240mm zoom camera, the S24 Ultra upped the ante to a 200 MP main camera and 50 MP 5x telephoto, and now, the Galaxy S25. The Ultra will upgrade the Ultrawide to a new 50 MP sensor.
It is expected to be an ISOCELL S5KJN3 sensor, commonly known as the GN3 – a 1/1.57-inch imager with 1.0µm pre-binned pixels. We have no word yet on the lens in front of the sensor, but it could be a brighter f/2.0 unit than the current f/2.2.
Expect the rest of the camera system to remain unchanged – 200 MP ISOCELL HP2 (1/1.3″, 0.6µm-2.4µm), f/1.7, 23mm sensor for the main camera, 12 MP Sony IMX754 (1/3.52″, 1.12µm), f/1.7 /2.4, 67mm 3x zoom, 50 MP Sony IMX854 (1/2.52″, 0.7-1.4µm), f/3.4, 111mm 5x telephoto, and 12 MP ISOCELL S5K3LU (1/3.2″, 1.12µm), f/2.2, 26mm selfie camera.
Snapdragon 8 Elite with 16GB RAM
The chip upgrade is a foregone conclusion – the Galaxy S25 Ultra will get the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite and will use that chip globally.
However, reports suggest that Samsung may eventually bump its flagship to 16GB of RAM, putting it on par with its competition. While highly likely, it is not a sure thing.
One UI 7, seamless updates and free Gemini Advanced
Finally, Samsung will premiere the delayed One UI 7 with Android 15 on the Galaxy S25 series. The bump to the next version of Android usually arrives on current-gen flagships around October or November, but it looks like One UI 7 is a major design overhaul for Samsung and somewhat of a hassle to produce.
Leaked render of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (Source: OnLeaks And Android Headlines)
A UI 7 will finally unlock seamless update support for Samsung’s flagship phones (only the Galaxy A55 had it until this point). For those unaware, the Seamless Updates feature allows an update to be installed on partition B while you continue to use your phone in partition A and restart it when the installation is complete. This keeps the device usable during installation, and is only unavailable when it restarts, meaning you don’t have to wait a few minutes for the entire installation process to complete before using your phone.
As part of its Galaxy AI benefits, Samsung will offer free Gemini Advanced for one year on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. This is the paid subscription version of Google’s AI, and it normally costs you $19.99 per month (but you also get 2TB of Google Drive storage).
So, is One UI 7 with a new design and build, a new 50 MP ultrawide camera, Snapdragon 8 Elite, and Gemini Advance a solid upgrade over the Galaxy S24 Ultra?
